Pinoy singer stars with Sharon Stone, Kim Cattrall at Life Ball in Austria

Pinoy singer stars with Sharon Stone, Kim Cattrall at Life Ball in Austria

By LOUI GALICIA
ABS-CBN Europe News Bureau

Singer Vincent Bueno became the first Pinoy to share the limelight with big-name celebrities such as Sharon Stone, Kim Cattrall, Elton John and Linda Evangelista at the Life Ball event in Austria.

The pure-blooded Filipino’s music career is fast spinning to the top since winning in the "Musical! Die Show" of Austrian national broadcaster ORF last January.

Not only did Bueno walk the red carpet at Life Ball as one of the 4,000 guests which included big-name stars, he also opened Europe’s biggest AIDS charity event on May 17th.

Amid thundering applause from around 45,000 spectators in front of the prestigious, historical and famous City Hall of Vienna called the Rathausplatz, Bueno opened the show singing "Vienna Calling", a song popularized by the very first Austrian rocker Falco.

Donning an all-silver space cowboy costume, Bueno gyrated and did his trademark backflips to the delight of the attendees who came from all over the world and paid 200 euros (13,500 pesos) to support the charity event.

Even the lensmen had a good time taking shots of the energetic Bueno.

Throughout the night, nobody could be prouder for the young Bueno than his uncle, King, who was also the first Filipino to be given full accreditation for the event.

The older Bueno gained unlimited access and was free to shoot footage of all events from the rehearsals to the red carpet, backstage, the dressing room and the parties.

In some of his footage, King even asked some international celebrities to shout "Hello! The Filipino Channel" and "Mabuhay Philippines."

Life Ball is on its 16th year since Gary Keszler organized the very flamboyant, colorful and extravagant event strictly for gays but which has now become a major society event in Europe.

This year’s theme was "Landing on Planet Life Ball", and thus majority of the guests dressed as aliens in elaborate costumes.

The organizers aimed to top the 1.2 million euros it raised last year, with half of the proceeds going to projects in Austria and the rest going to international projects, with the help of the American Foundation for AIDS Research (Amfar).

Stone delivered a speech against AIDS as chairperson of Amfar’s Campaign for AIDS Research, while Sex and The City star Cattrall presented the "Crystal of Hope" which is endowed with 100,000 euros donated by Swarovski to Care Austria, for its HIV/AIDS project in Kenya.

This year, luxury lingerie label Agent Provocateur hosted Life Ball as part of the yearly trend of different fashion designers hosting the big event.

SOURCE: WWW.ABS-CBNNEWS.COM

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